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The acinar tissue of the pancreas is beautifully arranged and takes on the shape of a flower when viewed under the microscope. These secretory cells produce pancreatic enzymes. They are released into the middle of the 'flower'. From there they drain into the intestine, to help digest food. They also produce bicarbonate ions to neutralize the acidic products of the stomach.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Acinar tissue - The flowers of diabetes

Biopharmaceuticals are a very important part of the therapeutic options in many diseases. They are made by, or derived from, living organisms using biotechnology. But they are also very expensive drugs. Biosimilars are the generally cheaper versions of existing biopharmaceuticals that are made after the market exclusivity rights of the original biopharmaceutical has expired. They are properly licensed, with proven comparable quality, efficacy and safety.

Biosimilars

A lichen arises from the composition of algae, cyanobacteria and fungus. They occur in many colors, sizes, and forms and in many locations.


Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Pink lichen

The End of a Cell 


Apoptosis, the programmed suicide of a cell. This image is created from what we know the process of apoptosis entails.

When apoptosis occurs proteins called caspases are triggered into action. They break down the cellular components needed for survival, and they induce the production of enzymes known as DNases, which destroy the DNA in the nucleus (centre) of the cell. The cell shrinks sending out distress signals to macrophages. The macrophages get rid of the shrunken cells.



Sometimes the bodies signals go array and the wrong cells kill themselves and those which should die don't. Increased apoptosis is characteristic of diseases such as AIDS and parkinsons whereas decreased apoptosis is linked to cancer.



Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Apoptosis

This work belongs to the Mitchell’s dream series, inspired by the Chemiosmotic hypothesis that penetrates all biology. The Nobel prize winning British biochemist Peter Mitchell first published his ideas on the proton motive force in Nature in 1961. The equations here suggest the mitochondrial network.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Mitchell's equation I

Cardiac muscle with muscle mitochondria.

Cardiac muscle forms the thicker layer of our pulsing hearts. It contracts and relaxes, contracts and relaxes many times a minute, every minute of our lives. With many mitochondria, packed between the fibres, to provide the energy required for such a dedicated task.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Cardiac Muscle

Biopharmaceuticals are a very important part of the therapeutic options in many diseases. They are made by, or derived from, living organisms using biotechnology. But they are also very expensive drugs. Biosimilar are the generally cheaper versions of existing biopharmaceuticals that are made after the market exclusivity rights of the original biopharmaceutical has expired. They are properly licensed, with proven comparable quality, efficacy and safety.

Within the round pink window, the purple coloured molecule near the top is the originator. The orange background molecule just below is the first biosimilar. The other orange one is the second biosimilar. The other purple background molecule lower down is also the originator, after a manufacture change was implemented.

Chloroplasts are found in the cells of plants that conduct photosynthesis. They absorb sunlight and use it along with water and carbon dioxide gas (CO2) to produce food for the plant.

Mitochondria generate the energy that cells need to function. The energy made by the mitochondria is in the form of a chemical called adenosine triphosphate or ATP.


Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Partners in crime - chloroplasts and mitochondria

Albert Lehninger was an American biochemist in the field of bioenergetics. He made fundamental contributions to the current understanding of metabolism and mitochondria. His most notable texts are in his series Principles of Biochemistry. 

The image interprets the cell studies of Lehninger at his time of practice.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Lehninger Preparations

A cross section of a buttercup root under the microscope.

The buttercup or ranunculus comprises from the outside in, the epidermis; cortex; vascular cylinder; xylem; and phloem.


Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Buttercup root under the microscope

The Mitochondrial Permeability Transition or MPTP is a protein pore that is formed in the inner membrane of the mitochondria under certain pathological conditions. Induction of the permeability transition pore can lead to mitochondrial swelling and cell death through apoptosis or necrosis depending on the particular biological setting.

The artist has name this illustration 'North Passage' it is her interpretation of what the pore would look like. Its named after the mythical passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific that many sailors of past centuries tried to find. It probably was a navigable route in the middle ages, but with the mini ice age of the 17th century it closed. The MPTP has in the artists mind a similar character, it exists, although nobody has seen it.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Mitochondrial Permeability Transition pore 'North passage'

A ghost cell is similar to a normal tissue cell but it doesn't have a nucleus. 

The artist has made and interpretation of the ghost cells creating a cell made visible by the outline of its mitochondrial network. Cellular membranes that are there, but not there, assumed by the viewer. The light or dark coming from the centre depicts a not-there nucleus.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Ghost cells

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Spirogyra is a type of green algae of the Zygnemataceae family. It is named for its spiral arrangement of the chloroplasts. It is commonly found in freshwater areas,

Green lichen

Artistic interpretation of a single ebola virus particle which is shaped to spell the word 'help'. 

The ebola virus belongs to the Filoviridae family of viruses and causes ebola virus disease (EVD) or ebola haemorrhagic fever in humans. Symptoms of this often fatal illness include sudden onset of fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, sore throat and intense muscle weakness followed by diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases internal and external bleeding. Ebola virus disease first appeared during outbreaks in Africa in the mid-1970s. The virus spreads between humans through direct contact with infected blood, secretions and organs, or with surfaces or bedding already contaminated with these fluids. Ebola virus particles (virions) are cylindrical or tubular in shape and can be up to 1000 nm long and 80 nm in diameter. They have glycoproteins projecting from the surface in 7 - 10 nm spikes. The virus carries a negative sense RNA genome which is about 18 - 19 Kb long.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

The Ebola virus

Large oocyte

‘The beginning of a self’ 


Inside the ovary is an immature ovum or oocyte (egg cell). The oocyte is a cell in an ovary which may undergo meiotic division to form an ovum.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Future element

Adipose tissue or Adipocytes, also known as lipocytes and fat cells are the main cells forming fat tissue.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Adipose Tissue

ATP synthase is an enzyme that creates the energy storage molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is simply the energy used by cells of most organisms

Chloroplasts in a plant cell, in this case a spinach leaf. Inside the chloroplasts, the stacks of thylakoid membranes are where the action takes place. The dark spots are starch granules. In close proximity are the mitochondria, with curved membranes, and the endothelial reticulum. This system of membranes navigates between the energy producing organelles until it reaches the nucleus, where it also forms the nuclear membranes.

Biopharmaceuticals are a very important part of the therapeutic options in many diseases. They are made by, or derived from, living organisms using biotechnology. But they are also very expensive drugs. Biosimilar are the generally cheaper versions of existing biopharmaceuticals that are made after the market exclusivity rights of the original biopharmaceutical has expired. They are properly licensed, with proven comparable quality, efficacy and safety.

The therapeutic window is not identical in all of us. The average therapeutic window is represented by the overlapping of many windows. The green coloured molecule near the top of the average window is the originator. The red background molecule is the first biosimilar. The other red one is the second biosimilar. The other green background molecule lower down is also the originator, after a manufacture change was implemented.

Neurons or nerve cells are the core components of the brain and spinal cord of the central nervous system (CNS), and of the ganglia of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) controlling many motor and sensory functions of the body.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

'The neuronal forest' Neurons

What we commonly refer to today as Mitochondria German pathologist and histologist Richard Altmann in 1890 termed “bioblasts” (life germs), he believed they were autonomous elementary organisms responsible for metabolic and genetic functions.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Bioblasts

The level of energy of different cells varies. The mitochondria, responsible for the energy production have in this picture two different energy states, represented by gold and silver.


Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Networking energies

Large oocyte

‘The beginning of a self’ 


Inside the ovary is an immature ovum or oocyte (egg cell). The oocyte is a cell in an ovary which may undergo meiotic division to form an ovum.

This oocyte is frozen.

Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Acinar tissue - The flowers of diabetes

Biosimilars

Pink lichen

Apoptosis

Mitchell's equation I

Cardiac Muscle

Biosimilars

Partners in crime - chloroplasts and mitochondria

Lehninger Preparations

Apoptosis

Buttercup root under the microscope

Mitochondrial Permeability Transition pore 'North passage'

Ghost cells

Spirogyra is a type of green algae of the Zygnemataceae family. It is named for its spiral arrangement of the chloroplasts. It is commonly found in freshwater areas,

Green lichen

The Ebola virus

Future element

Adipose Tissue

ATP synthase is an enzyme that creates the energy storage molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is simply the energy used by cells of most organisms

Biosimilars

'The neuronal forest' Neurons

Bioblasts

Networking energies

Future element

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Acinar tissue - The flowers of diabetes

Biosimilars

Pink lichen

Apoptosis

Mitchell's equation I

Cardiac Muscle

Biosimilars

Partners in crime - chloroplasts and mitochondria

Lehninger Preparations

Apoptosis

Buttercup root under the microscope

Mitochondrial Permeability Transition pore 'North passage'

Ghost cells

Spirogyra is a type of green algae of the Zygnemataceae family. It is named for its spiral arrangement of the chloroplasts. It is commonly found in freshwater areas,

Green lichen

The Ebola virus

Future element

Adipose Tissue

ATP synthase is an enzyme that creates the energy storage molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is simply the energy used by cells of most organisms

Biosimilars

'The neuronal forest' Neurons

Bioblasts

Networking energies

Future element

Sign up to our newsletter

Wellcome collectionWellcome Collection

Finding us:

Opening times:

Today's opening times

Wellcome collection